FrieslandCampina considers building a sustainable dairy plant in the Netherlands

NETHERLANDS – Global dairy producer, Royal
FrieslandCampina has announced that it is exploring options to build a
sustainable and innovative dairy processing plant in the Netherlands.

The
plant is intended to process member milk into fresh dairy products, ingredients
for early life and adult nutrition, as well as cheese production for the global
market and consumers.

According
to the company, the new facility will be built to address sustainability issues
while featuring the latest technology innovations.

The
company is also looking to include a greenfield location of the plant, putting
in mind the size of the facility, sustainability and technical requirements.

FrieslandCampina
said with the new plant, it would be able to increase the flexibility of its
supply chain to meet increasing market demand for special milk flows and
accommodate anticipated growth for the coming years.

The
company will source raw milk from its own member dairy farmers to make the
dairy products and ingredients which will be sold to global customers.

The
announcement follows a series of commitments by dairy players to enhance sustainability
initiatives across their operations.

Recently,
Arla said it aims to achieve carbon net zero dairy by 2050 by reducing greenhouse
gas emissions by 30% per kilo of milk over the next decade.

Speaking
to FoodIngredientsFirst, Jan-Willem ter Avest, a spokesperson at
FrieslandCampina revealed that he company’s goal is to produce climate-neutral
dairy in 2050 and reduce the use of scarce natural resources such as water, raw
materials and fossil fuels.

“At
this point, we are exploring opportunities. There is no design and, we did not
choose a location in the Netherlands yet.

With
this new facility, we would increase the flexibility of our supply chain to
meet increasing market demand for special milk flows and accommodate
anticipated growth for the coming years. We want to lead with sustainability,”
said ter Avest.

The
move is part of the company’s wider initiative towards a sustainable dairy supply
chain.

The company in April 2018 pledged to strengthen its sustainability strategy by introducing a certified Top Dairy line focusing on animal welfare and biodiversity.

The dairy cooperative proposed a desire to debut a top dairy line with an extra focus on animals, nature, climate; dairy with a lower CO2 equivalent, as part of its “Nourishing by Nature” strategy.

Last
month, Rabobank agreed to grant rewards based on similar biodiversity criteria
to FrieslandCampina, where Dairy farmers in the province of Drenthe, in the
Netherlands received more remuneration for their efforts in the area of
biodiversity.